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A BC Hydro AquaVan, such as the one pictured above, is expected to come to Yellowknife sometime this summer. SideDoor Youth Ministries executive director Garry Hubert said he is looking forward to working with the Vancouver Aquarium to host the van of sea animals and shows involving sea scientists. - photo courtesy of Vancouver Aquarium

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife residents may have a chance to experience life on Canada's West Coast this summer as plans are in the works to host a visiting van full of sea creatures and marine scientists from the Vancouver Aquarium. The City of Yellowknife will not be paying for it, however.

The city's grant review committee laid out its recommendations for special grants funding this week, and the AquaVan visit was among the more curious rejects from the list of requests.

The Vancouver Aquarium applied to the city for $15,000 to fund a trip to Yellowknife, but was rejected because it did not fit the committee criteria, according to the review committee minutes.

The AquaVan includes a travelling truck of "award-winning aquatic programs, featuring live animals, props and activities," according to the aquarium's website.

The AquaVan provides landlocked communities with an opportunity to experience sea life, including starfishes, barnacles and hermit crabs, said the website. In an e-mail to Yellowknifer on Wednesday, Vancouver Aquarium communications advisor Roxanne St-Pierre stated the AquaVan will come North this summer, though the itinerary is not complete.

"We are not ready yet to talk about the trip up North," she stated. "We currently are in the process of putting the itinerary together. We won't be in (Yellowknife) before July."

Scott Finestone, the program manager, was unavailable for comment this week.

SideDoor Youth Ministries is planning to get involved in the Aqua Van's visit because it is focused on children, said executive director Garry Hubert. He said he wasn't aware what the dates might be, yet, but thought it would be "before the end of school."

"We have been invited to work with the Vancouver Aquarium on this, where youth can go through an aquarium with a daily show featured," he said.

Hubert said he has been in communication with the aquarium since about October or November after the city had referred the Vancouver organization to SideDoor.

"I think it was because we have a strong handle on the youth in the community," he said. "I mean, how often do you get to see these types of things?"

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